Télécharger

Bulletin de l’Institut Scientifique, Rabat, Section Sciences de la Vie, 2015, n° 37, 61-63.
- Note faunistique -
eISSN 2458-7176
Ptyodactylus oudrii Lataste, 1880 (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) :
First records in the North of the High Atlas mountain (Morocco)
Ptyodactylus oudrii Lataste, 1880 (Squamata : Phyllodactylidae) :
Premières observations au Nord du Haut Atlas (Maroc)
Alexandre FRANÇOIS, Thibault DIEULEVEUT* & Jesse GABBARD
Emirates Center for Wildife Propagation, BP 47, 33250 Missour (Maroc), *([email protected])
Abstract. The Oudri's Fan-footed Gecko (Ptyodactylus oudrii Lataste, 1880) is located in two new localities in the North of its known
distribution area in Morocco, on the eastern foothills of the Middle Atlas.
Keywords : Ptyodactylus oudrii, Morocco, Middle Atlas.
Résumé. Le Ptyodactyle d’Oudri (Ptyodactylus oudrii Lataste, 1880) est cité dans deux nouvelles localités au nord de son aire de répartition
connue au Maroc, sur les contreforts orientaux du Moyen Atlas.
Mots-clés : Ptyodactylus oudrii, Maroc, Moyen Atlas.
INTRODUCTION
The Oudri's Fan-footed Gecko (Ptyodactylus oudrii
Lataste, 1880) is located in three countries of the Maghreb
(Bons & Geniez 1996, Geniez et al. 2004), but Trape et al.
(2012) mention Tunisia with doubt.
In Algeria, this gecko’s territory goes until the 35° north
latitude. Lataste (1880) collected it at Ghardaia, Laghouat,
and from Bou-Saada to Biskra. The locality of “Oran” is
mentioned (Loveridge 1947) and is shown in a map
(Sindaco & Jeremcenko 2008 in Perera & Harris 2010), but
it could refer in fact to an old administrative division,
encompassing a large territory to the South.
In Morocco, its distribution area stretches from the AntiAtlas to the South slopes of the Eastern High Atlas and near
Figuig (Bons & Geniez 1996). It was not known beyond
North 32.5°, in the vicinity of Imilchil (Bons & Geniez
1996) and toward Talsint (Perera & Harris 2010). Harris et
al. (2010) didn’t found it on the northern slopes of the jbel
Ayachi (Eastern High Atlas), at Jaffar cirque. So, this
species seems to stop at the southern relief of the High Atlas,
crossing the mountain chain on the north when this one is
below 2000 m. Nevertheless, our observations show that this
gecko is also on the oriental pleated foothills of the Middle
Atlas.
NEW OBSERVATIONS
One specimen of Oudri's fan-footed gecko has been
found by one of us (AF) on the 6th of July 2014, on the jbel
Ouchilas (Province of Boulemane), at the altitude of 1597
m and at the following coordinates : 33.08242° North,
04.33520° West (Fig. 1). This locality is at 160 km to the
North-East of the station on the Tizi n’Tirherhouzine pass
(Bons & Geniez, 1996) and at 100 km to the North-West of
Talsint (Perera & Harris 2010), the northern known stations.
The gecko has been observed and photographed (Fig. 2)
during an entomological exploration, in a North-West
oriented gully, edged by a wall made of blocks and crevices.
The vegetation in this area was mainly constituted by
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and Alfa (Macrochloa
tenacissima (L.) Kunth).
In this station, only one specimen has been observed
even if it is known that this lizard in dense colonies and even
chooses communal sites to lay their eggs (Mateo &
Cuadrado 2012).
Moreover, one year after, we observed another specimen
in the Ahouli Mine on the 1st of July 2015, at 1130 m and at
the following coordinates: 32.82442°N, 04.56968°W
(Fig. 1). This locality is midway between the known
distribution area and the new station of Jbel Ouchilas.
The last known localities of Oudri's Fan-footed Gecko
suggest that the distribution area of the gecko is stretching
toward the North, taking advantage of the reliefs linking the
Eastern High Atlas and the Eastern Middle Atlas, between,
Midelt and Douirat (Fig. 1). This area, under the influence of
a double Foehn effect from both the Middle and High Atlas
(Rhanem 2010), receives especially dry weather, vital
condition for this species. In the same way, the Jbel
Meschkakour (Anoual) might show the same favorable
conditions for the species and might deserve to be
prospected to find this gecko.
In a recent phylogenetic study of the Ptyodactylus genus,
Metallinou et al. (2015) showed that Oudri’s Fan-footed
gecko might be a complex of several taxa. The species
encompasses four lineages: one in the Anti-Atlas, two in the
High Atlas and one in the Saharan Atlas. As our new
observations come from another mountain range (Middle
Atlas), it would be interesting to know to which lineage they
are related.
62
François et al . - First record of Ptyodactylus oudrii Lataste, 1880
Figure 1. Map of the new localities of Ptyodactylus oudrii in the eastern foothills of the Middle Atlas.
Figure 2. Ptyodactylus oudrii observed on the jbel Ouchilas (Province of Boulemane)
Photo: A. François – 06th of July 2014.
François et al . - First record of Ptyodactylus oudrii Lataste, 1880
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We want to thank Miss Carole Duval for her help in the translation
of this work. We are grateful to S.A. Cheikh Mohamed bin Zayed
Al Nahyan, Prince of Abou Dhabi and President of the
International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC), as well as
S.E. Mohammed Al Bowardi, Vice-President of IFHC, for their
supports.
REFERENCES
Bons J. & Geniez P. 1996. Amphibiens et Reptiles du Maroc.
Asociación Herpetológica Española. Barcelona, 319 p.
Geniez P., Mateo J.A., Geniez M. & Pether J. 2004. The
Amphibians and Reptiles of Western Sahara. Edition Chimaira.
Frankfurt, 229 p.
Harris D.J., Perera A., Barata M., Tarroso P. & Salvi D. 2010. New
distribution notes for terrestrial herpetofauna from Morocco.
North-Western Journal of Zoology, 6, 309–315.
Lataste F. 1880. Diagnoses de reptiles nouveaux d’Algérie. Le
Naturaliste, 1, 299.
Loveridge A. 1947. Revision of the African lizards of the family
Gekkonidae. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
at Harvard, 98, 1–469.
63
Mateo J.A. & Cuadrado M. 2012. Communal Nesting and Parental
Care in Oudri's Fan-Footed Gecko (Ptyodactylus oudrii): Field
and Experimental Evidence of an Adaptive Behavior. Journal
of Herpetology, 46(2), 209–212.
Metallinou M., Červenka J., Crochet P.A., Kratochvíl L., Wilms T.,
Geniez P., Shobrak M.Y., Brito J.C. & Carranza S. 2015.
Species on the rocks: Systematics and biogeography of the
rock-dwelling
Ptyodactylus
geckos
(Squamata:
Phyllodactylidae) in the North Africa and Arabia. Molecular
Phylogenetics and Evolution, 85, 208–220.
Perera A. & Harris D.J. 2010. Genetic variability within the
Oudri’s fan-footed gecko Ptyodactylus oudrii in North Africa
assessed using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 54, 634–639.
Rhanem M. 2010. Etude climatique en moyenne montagne
méditerranéenne : le cas de la localité de Midelt dans le haut
bassin versant de la Moulouya (Maroc) pour des fins
bioécologiques. Quaderni di Botanica ambientale e applicata,
21, 165–187.
Trape J.F., Trape S. & Chirio L. 2012. Lézards, crocodiles et
tortues d’Afrique occidentale et du Sahara. IRD Editions.
Marseille, 503 p.
Manuscrit reçu le 03/11/2015
Version révisée acceptée le 11/07/2016
Version finale reçue le 13/07/2016
Mise en ligne le 04/08/2016